Probe cards are commonly used in the testing of integrated circuit devices, including memory chips. One example of a probe card is available from Kulicke and Soffa Industries, Inc. and has, on one side, an array of metal probes that are arranged to make contact with external electrical contacts, usually in the form of pads or bumps, on a device under test (DUT) (e.g., a die on a wafer). Exemplary probes may be, for example, coupled to a substrate at one end (e.g., a space transformer) or mounted within a probe head. Typical probe cards also include a printed circuit board (PCB) with traces that can be connected to an electronic test system. A space transformer is typically included in applications where the spacing of the traces on the PCB is wider than the spacing of the pads on the integrated circuit device to be tested.
In certain test assemblies, the probe card is electrically connected to the test head of the electronic test system using an interface system. For example, the interface system may include double headed electrically conductive spring pins, also referred to as “pogo” pins, that are mounted in a carrier. One end of each pogo pin contacts a conductive pad of the probe card. The other end of the pogo pin contacts the test apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 6,114,869, assigned to the assignee of the instant application, describes one example of such an interface system.
Often, probe cards include an interposer disposed between the PCB and the space transformer. Unfortunately, many interposers of conventional probe cards (e.g., pogo pin configurations) are mechanically complicated and costly, and the structures often have difficulty providing the close pitch desired in probe card assemblies. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an interconnect structure for a probe card overcoming one or more of the deficiencies of conventional interposers.